


another phase of finding what I really need

by ohmcgee



Series: ohmcgee's mallverse [35]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Retail, M/M, mallverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 07:49:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7926589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmcgee/pseuds/ohmcgee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Of course,” Jay snorts as he braids one side of Roy’s hair. “Of course he asked his boyfriend's <i>ex</i> to live with them. Of course."</p>
            </blockquote>





	another phase of finding what I really need

Dick’s at the laundromat, currently perched on top of one of the machines because of _course_ he had to get the one that was out of whack, when he looks up from his phone and sees a familiar face walk in, a dufflebag full of clothes slung over his shoulder. 

Dick grins as soon as he sees him and waves him over. “You can use the one next to mine,” he says, voice shaking as the washing machine cycles into spin mode. “Hey aren’t you supposed to be like -- not here?”

Apollo gives a little self deprecating laugh and drops his bag on the chair next to the machines, walks over and gets some detergent out of the dispenser. “Funny story,” he says. “I flew all the way out there and they had accidentally given the job to someone else.”

“Shut _up_ ,” Dick says in shocked disbelief. “You should sue them. I’d sue them. That’s ridiculous.”

Apollo just shrugs and puts a few quarters in the machine, pours the detergent in and starts shoving clothes inside. “It happens,” he says. “I mean, maybe I punched the hotel wall a little bit, but I’m over it now. It is what it is.”

“You sound like Connor,” Dick snorts and Apollo closes the lid on the machine, leans back against it. 

“You know Connor?”

“Yeah,” Dick says. “I mean, he works with M, so I see him whenever I -- I think this is one of those things I’m supposed to shut up about, isn’t it?”

Apollo just laughs, which makes Dick feel infinitely better. He’s never been what you’d call _great_ with tact, but it seems even trickier with M and Apollo for some reason. 

“It’s fine,” Apollo says. “Actually, I was just wondering...I’m kind of between places and jobs right now and -- do you know if Connor’s still looking for a roommate? I can’t really afford to keep staying in hotels every night.”

“Oh,” Dick says, frowning. “Yeah, I think he did. You know Mia?”

“Yeah,” Apollo says. “M gave her some private classes once.”

He sighs this defeated sigh and the gears in Dick’s head start whirring around and before he can really think about what he’s saying, he hops off the washer and grins at Apollo. “We’ve got an extra room.”

Apollo just smirks at him and lifts one of his eyebrows. “We?”

Dick blushes. Roy and Tim and everybody give him shit all the time for getting so _domesticated_ , but this feels different for some reason. “Yeah,” he says, scratching a phantom itch on the back of his neck. “I mean. I guess I kind of live there now? I sleep there and I only go to my place every now and then to make sure Tim and Roy haven’t started anarchy in the building and -- I mean, you need a place to stay. I don’t think M would mind.”

“The thing is,” Apollo says, chewing on his bottom lip. It’s funny, Dick thinks, that he never really noticed things like how _pretty_ someone’s mouth could be until he got with M. “I wouldn’t even consider this, but this morning a roach crawled out of the shower drain in the crappy motel I’m staying in and --”

“Yeuch,” Dick says. “You gotta get out of there. Plus, we just got Hulu!”

Apollo laughs, his entire face lighting up with it. “Sold.”

 

: : :

 

M takes it better than Dick thought he would. Actually, when he offered the room to Apollo he didn’t really think about how M would take it at all, he was just trying to help a buddy out. But once they got in Apollo’s car and drove to the hotel so Dick could help him with his stuff, he started nervously worrying his bottom lip and wondering if this was one of those _things_ \-- the ones Jay’s always smacking him upside the back of the head for not thinking through first. 

Once they get back to their apartment -- it should be weird, Dick thinks, calling it ‘their’ apartment, but the weirdest part is that it’s not -- M just asks Apollo what happened, looks like _he’s_ gonna punch a wall when Apollo tells him how they screwed him over, then just kind of waves his hand when Dick tells him he told Apollo he could stay with them until he found a new place. 

“Yeah of course,” he says, then rolls his eyes at Apollo when Apollo looks surprised. “What, I’m going to let you stay in some grimey motel because some fucking homophobic asshole decided to give the job to a straight guy?”

“M,” Apollo says. “You don’t know --”

“Oh,” M says. “I know. And you’re still naive as shit. Where’s the rest of your bags?”

“In the car,” Apollo says. “I can get them.”

“Shut up,” M says, but it sounds fond, the way Jay says _fuck off, Dickie_ , and it makes Dick smile all the way down the stairs back to the parking lot. 

 

: : :

 

Of course Jay and Roy give him shit for it when he tells them, because they’re Jay and Roy and they’re a bunch of assholes. Tim just gives him one of those disturbing looks that Dick tries not to pay much attention to. 

“Of course,” Jay snorts as he braids one side of Roy’s hair. “Of course he asked his boyfriend’s _ex_ to live with them. I feel like there should be a bingo card for all the stupid shit you do, Dickie.”

“Roy and I have a bingo card,” Tim says helpfully. “It’s mostly for sex stuff.”

“It’s only for sex stuff,” Roy adds. 

“Ugh,” Jay groans. 

“I don’t know what the big deal is,” Dick says, leaning across the counter and chewing on a twizzler he literally had to fight Tim for; he’s going to have some bruises in weird places to explain to M later. “He’s a friend and he needed a place to stay. You know I can’t _not_ help people, Jay.”

Jason sighs and lets Tim take over braiding when Tim keeps muttering about how he’s doing it wrong. “I know,” he says. “Remember that homeless guy --”

Dick grins. “His name was Burt.”

“ _Burt_ ,” Jason says. “Shit all over our coffee table and stole every condiment we had in that shitty apartment.”

“Gosh,” Dick says, sighing with half a twizzler in his mouth. “Remember our first place?”

“How could I forget,” Jason snorts and Steph just gives him this _look_ over the top of the comic she’s reading. “Anyway, yeah. I know you can’t help but to help people. I just hope you know what you’re doing this time.”

“Seldom if ever,” Dick grins, reaching over to ruffle Jay’s hair, suddenly overcome with nostalgia. “It’s gonna be fine. He and M are cool, me and Apollo are cool, it’s all cool.”

“Say cool again,” Tim says and Jason punches him in the arm. 

“I’m sure it will be, Dickie,” Jay says, moving back behind the counter when the after school crowd starts to walk in. “It always is.”

 

: : :

 

That night when Dick gets home M’s standing in front of the stove cooking something that smells a little weird, to be honest, but as soon as he pushes the fork into Dick’s mouth Dick’s eyes flutter a little bit. 

“What is that,” he asks, still chewing, and M tells him it’s something-something-with a wine reduction-something. He’s not really paying attention, just trying to push M out of the way to get more. 

“Nope,” M grins and grabs Dick around the waist, pulls him away from the stove and pushes him back against the counter. Dick swallows the mushroom he stole out of the pan and M kisses him, hand sliding under the back of Dick’s shirt and --

That’s about when Apollo walks in the door. 

“Oops,” Apollo grins. “Ah. You want me to come back later?”

M snorts and shoves Dick out of the kitchen. “He’s going to wash the smell of teen spirit off of him. Dinner’s almost ready. You still like Chardonnay?”

Apollo grimaces. “Truth? I only ever drank that stuff because you liked it.”

“Jesus,” M says. “I’m surrounded by plebeians. Fine, I’m sure Dick has some kind of frathouse beer in the fridge.”

“It’s _lager_ ,” Dick says and M groans.

“It’s swill. Now get out of my kitchen. You smell like fucking Axe body spray and it’s making me murderous.”

Dick giggles and throws his arms around M from behind, rubbing himself all over him just to drive him nuts before running into the bathroom. 

“I see why you like him,” Apollo laughs, walking up to the stove and stealing a mushroom out of the skillet, just like Dick. 

“You’re not going to tell me I have a type,” M says, leveling him with a glare. 

“I would never,” Apollo grins and steals a piece of chicken before walking out of the kitchen and getting on his laptop. “I had three interviews today. I should know something by the end of the week, hopefully.”

“You don’t have to keep me updated, you know,” M says as he plates the food. “I’m not your mother.”

“I know,” Apollo says. “I just know this is probably weird for you. If I’d had any other choice, M, I swear I wouldn’t have --”

“Stop,” M says, wiping his hands on a dish towel and walking over to him. “Okay? Don’t do the guilt thing. They fucked you over, A. We both know why. Maybe we’re not together anymore, but that doesn’t meant I don’t -- I still fucking give a shit about you.”

“Yeah,” Apollo says, giving him a little half smile. “Ditto.”

M can’t believe how blinding his smile is, even when it’s only at half force. It makes him forget what he was about to say. “I -- stay however long you need to, okay?”

“Okay,” Apollo says. “But what if --”

“Can we eat yet?” Dick interrupts, appearing in the room wearing a pair of boxers with pineapples on them and a white shirt, darker in spots where his hair’s dripped on it, still toweling it dry as he stands there. “I’m starving.”

“You’re staring,” M murmurs to Apollo before he heads back into the kitchen, smirking to himself when Apollo decides to eat dinner in his room that night. 

 

: : :

 

A few weeks go by before Dick even realizes it. Everyone thought it was going to be so awkward, the three of them living together, but the funny part is that they all three have such conflicting schedules that they’re hardly ever all three together. Dick works the night shift a lot and still goes out dancing with Tim and Roy all the time, M has his self defense classes he teaches at night and Starbucks during the day, and Apollo is constantly job hunting.

Sometimes Dick will get off work and M will have class and he and Apollo will sit around eating Hungry Mans and watching Grey’s Anatomy. Sometimes Dick has to work late and he’ll come home and find M and Apollo talking about a Sports Thing. He doesn’t know what kind of sports thing. Something with sticks. Dick’s not really into sports. 

Tonight’s a rare night where both M and Dick get off around the same time, so they ride home together in M’s jeep and when they get there Apollo’s on the couch in the living room. He turns off what looks like _Real Housewives of Brooklyn_ and grins at both of them. 

“Well,” he says. “I got a job. Kind of.”

M snorts and hangs up his coat. “How do you kind of get a job?”

“I kind of talked Angie into giving me my old job back.”

M lifts an eyebrow. “I thought they replaced you when you left.”

“They did,” Apollo says. “But apparently the guy’s been hitting on the every girl that walks past him and I just happened to come in and beg for my job back the day she decided to fire him.”

“Sweet!” Dick says, heading for the fridge. “We should celebrate!”

Apollo gives M a questioning look when M shakes his head. “Kid thinks we should celebrate because the day ends in y,” he says and Apollo grins.

“Well, I wouldn’t say no to a beer.”

“Right?” Dick grins, then frowns once he gets the refrigerator open. “Oh god.”

“What?” M asks, walking over expecting to find a sea monster or something equally frightening in the fridge.

“We forgot to get more beer. We’re out.”

“Poor thing,” M says, slapping Dick’s ass to get him to move out the way so he can grab the bottle of Pinot on the bottom. “I guess you’ll have to drink like a big boy tonight.”

Both Dick and Apollo make faces. 

“I swear to god,” M says. “I live with toddlers. Do you want to get drunk or not?”

Dick sighs. “I’ll get the glasses.”

 

: : :

 

“I mean,” M says. He’s only on his second glass because he’s an _adult_ who knows how to _pace_ himself, but Dick’s on his -- M honestly stopped counting after four. Plausible deniability or something. “I know it’s not really what you wanted.”

Apollo toes his shoes off and curls his feet up under him. He’s halfway through his second glass and M can tell by how he drags his vowels and the softness of his eyes that it’s hitting him harder than he’s trying to let on. It makes him wonder how long it’s been since Apollo’s even been out if that’s all it takes for him to work up a buzz now. 

“All I want right now is a paycheck,” Apollo says, running his finger around the rim of his glass. He looks up just in time to see Dick lay his head on M’s shoulder. “I guess we’re gonna be working together again, huh?”

“Mm,” M says and Apollo takes another sip of his wine as Dick starts mouthing at the side of M’s neck, catches M’s eyes in time to see him smirk. “He gets sluttier than you on red wine, I think.”

“In that case,” Apollo says and he means to leave, but his legs are too heavy and he just sits there for a moment, frozen as Dick starts groping at M’s chest, hands slowly traveling lower like he’s totally forgotten anyone else is in the room. “Right,” Apollo says, forcing himself to stand up. “Good night.”

His legs are wobbly, but he manages to put his glass in the sink and make it to his room right before Dick starts moaning. 

Apollo knows he shouldn’t listen, but it’s not like he can _help_ it. He puts his headphones on but they’re just cheap earbuds he bought at the airport in Chicago and they do nothing to block out the sound of M’s deep, rumbling voice and Dick’s desperate gasps and pants. He can only imagine what they’re doing -- not that he _should_ , but his imagination has always gotten away from him, not to mention the wine. God he hates the tastes of it, but he’s always loved the way it makes him go fuzzy all over, used to love the way M would fuck him after three glasses and it would feel like he was fucking _flying_ when he came. 

Before he can think better of it Apollo strips out of his clothes and rolls onto his knees, gets his hand around his dick and listens to the sounds they’re making as he jerks off. The groan M lets out is unmistakable and the lack of any noise coming from Dick at all is all he needs to picture Dick on his knees, his mouth wrapped around M’s gorgeous cock. M’s groans and words muffled through the thin walls get more and more frequent and Apollo starts trying to match his strokes in time with them, starts fucking his fist so hard the headboard starts hitting the wall with each thrust and as soon as he thinks _oh god they’re going to know_ his cock jerks in his hand and spills everywhere, his body collapsing on top of the covers. 

“ _Fuck_ ,” he hears M shout so loudly it comes through the walls clear as day. 

“Fuck,” Apollo agrees and rolls over to clean up his mess.

 

: : :

 

Dick spends the next morning calling M every name he can think of for letting him drink so much. 

“This is your fault,” he says, holding his pounding head in his head as M stands over a sizzling stove. “You and your evil grape juice. That stuff came from the devil.”

“Actually,” M says. “I’m pretty sure that was Jesus. You know, the whole water into --”

“Oh fuck I forgot how annoying you are,” Apollo grumbles, sitting at the other end of the table looking just as miserable as Dick feels. They share a mutual look of misery before going back to their previous positions of trying to die. 

“You’re both candy asses,” M says, setting a plate of bacon, sausage, and toast in the center of the table. “Eat and tell me how much you love me.”

Dick glares at him, but as soon as the first piece is down that’s exactly what he feels like doing. His head is still kind of a disaster area, but with every piece of yummy, greasy pork he puts in his mouth, the more human he feels. 

“So,” he says once Apollo looks like he won’t murder him for opening his mouth. “I guess we can like, carpool now, huh?”

M snorts. “I’m not a soccer mom.”

“You _do_ love Vitamin Water though,” Dick says, pointing at him with a piece of sausage and M leans forward and tears it out of his fingers with his teeth, grinning as he chews it up. 

“I can drive myself,” Apollo says, pulling the edges off his toast. “I’ve got my own car.”

“Pfft,” Dick says. “We’re all going to the same place. That’s dumb. I call shotgun though.” 

“Fine,” Apollo says. “But I get to pick the radio station.”

“I’m going to throw myself out of the car,” M says and steals Dick’s last piece of bacon.

 

: : :

 

“You should go out with us tonight,” Roy says at work later that day. Tim’s working on a very sparkly advertisement by the door so he’s bored. “Dinah’s back in town and she got us tickets to her show.”

“Sounds awesome,” Dick says. “But you know how Helena’s in her band?”

“Yeah?”

“You know how Helena tries to stab me with something every time she sees me?”

“Oh, yeah.” Roy smirks. “Last time it was Dinah’s shoe. She actually took D’s shoe off _while_ she was still singing and tried to come across the room at you.”

“Uh huh,” Dick says, popping a bubble with his gum. “Think I’ll pass.”

“So what are you gonna do instead?” Roy asks, poking him in the arm with one of the sugar skull pens sitting on the counter. “You’re getting as boring as Jaybird.” 

“I’m gonna tell him you said that,” Dick says, snatching the pen out of Roy’s hand. “And I dunno. M’s got class and Apollo’s gonna work a few extra hours and ride home with him and -- why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re cool with that?” Roy says, raising his eyebrows. “M just hanging out with his ex. Alone?”

Dick rolls his eyes. “They’re not alone, they’re at the gym with M’s students.”

“Yeah, but the car ride --”

“Are you trying to make me paranoid?” Dick asks. He’s starting to get kind of annoyed actually. “I mean, you and Tim fuck whoever you want all the time. What’s the big deal if M spends time with Apollo at work?”

“Yeah, Dickie,” Roy says. “But you’re _not_ me and Tim.”

Dick huffs. “It’s just not like that, okay? We’re just -- ugh, don’t you have work to do or something?”

“Oh,” Roy says. “Would you look at that, Tim needs help hanging his sign up.”

Dick sighs. He hates these people sometimes.

 

: : :

 

Dick’s in their room once M and Apollo get home later that night, a plate that he warmed up a frozen burrito on for dinner sitting on the nightstand along with a couple of cans of redbull. He pauses his game of Call of Duty when he hears them walk in, pulls on a shirt and pads into the living room, feels M squeeze his hip when he walks by him to get to the fridge.

“Got you more beer,” M says as he takes them out of the bag. “And those gummy things you like for some reason.”

“And cereal?”

“Shit,” M says and Apollo laughs. 

“I got it,” he says. “I mean, I got it for me, but you’re welcome to it.”

“M hates cereal with marshmallows in it,” Dick says.

“I know,” Apollo grins as he puts the box in the cupboard. “He hates all marshmallows, actually. I think it’s a phobia.”

“Oh my god,” Dick grins. “Were you traumatized by the Stay Puft marshmallow man as a child? You were, weren’t you?”

“I hate you both,” M says. “Go entertain each other while I make something to eat that _won’t_ kill us.”

“Burritos are good,” Dick grumbles as he walks over to the couch and plops down, fishing for the remote between the couch cushions. “What do you wanna watch?”

“I dunno,” Apollo shrugs. “Whatever. You want a beer?”

“Yeah,” Dick says, flipping through the channels until he comes across _Inception_ and Apollo makes a little noise.

“Sorry,” he says bashfully and Dick hears M snort all the way in the kitchen. 

“Fucking Tom Hardy.”

Dick giggles as he takes the beer out of Apollo’s hand and Apollo sits down on the other end of the couch. “I guess you’ve got a type, huh?”

Apollo chokes a little on the sip of the beer he just took and blushes high on his cheekbones. 

Dick’s never seen the movie before so he scoots closer to Apollo so he can ask a trillion questions and unlike most people, Apollo doesn’t look murderous after the fifth time he says _wait, who is *that_?*, just explains who the old Chinese guy is again, even though Dick never really understands, but he pretends to. 

After a while M makes them pause the movie to go eat and Dick makes a face at all the vegetables on his plate. 

Apollo laughs. “I wasn’t a fan either, but trust me. These are pretty good. I swear, M could cook a rubber boot and I’d put it in my mouth.”

“You’d put anything in your mouth,” M quips before he really thinks about it and this time Dick blushes and shoves a bunch of broccoli and snowpeas into his mouth before he can say anything embarrassing. 

M has a glass of wine with his dinner and Apollo and Dick decide, wisely, to stick with their beer. Once they’re all done, Apollo and Dick do the dishes while M grabs a shower, and by the time he gets out they’re back on the couch again with the movie started back up. 

“Scoot,” M says when he walks up to the couch and Dick scoots to the middle cushion to make room for him. 

“So,” Dick says, yawning a little. “This is level four, right?”

“Three,” Apollo says, pulling Dick’s feet into his lap as Dick curls up against M. “Ariadne’s just about to --”

“Hey, spoiler whore,” M says, stroking the place between Dick’s shoulder blades “Don’t _tell_ him.”

Apollo just sticks his tongue out and rubs little circles into Dick’s ankles, answering all of Dick’s questions when he asks them, giggling when he and M both recite Eames’ “dream a little bigger, darling” line. 

“Roy’s dumb,” Dick says randomly, sitting up when Apollo and M both give him weird looks. “Sorry. He was just. Today at work he was trying to make me jealous or paranoid or something. He was acting like I shouldn’t be cool with you guys spending so much time together and maybe I am as stupid as everyone thinks I am, but I’m not worried. This is -- I mean, this is fun, right?”

“Dick,” M starts softly, something hesitant about his tone that Dick doesn’t want to pay attention to right now. 

“I mean,” Dick says, turning toward Apollo. He’s had too much to drink to try to make any sense right now, that’s becoming apparent. And maybe he’s even had too much to drink to be thinking about what he’s thinking, but -- “This is fun,” he says and leans in and presses his mouth against Apollo’s. 

Apollo’s mouth is softer than M’s and he reaches out and squeezes Dick’s arm when Dick kisses him. 

“Hey,” he says softly, kindly. “You’re drunk. You should --”

“Dick,” M says behind him. He’s turned so that Dick can feel M’s chest against his back, his breath against the back of his neck. “What are you doing?”

Dick licks his lips, looks at Apollo’s mouth and thinks about M’s hand on him, tight and strong. “I,” he says. “Not sure.”

“Do you,” M says, letting out a shaky breath. “Do you want to kiss him? Do you want him to kiss you back?”

Dick raises his eyes to Apollo’s, sees the slivers of gold in his eyes and nods. 

“Okay,” M says, shares a look over Dick’s shoulder with Apollo, then Apollo’s framing Dick’s face with his hands, pulling him in and pushing his fingers into Dick’s hair as he licks into his mouth. Dick feels M’s hands all over him as he sucks on Apollo’s tongue, tastes the beer that he likes and the garlic from M’s food. He moans a little into Apollo’s mouth when M sucks on the back of his neck, says _oh_ when Apollo bends his head and sucks a light bruise on his throat.

“Is this okay?” Apollo asks when he lifts his head back up and Dick just nods, his tongue too tied up to make words. 

“You gotta tell us,” M murmurs next to his ear, sliding his hand around to drag his fingers over Dick’s stomach. “What do you want, Dick?”

“Oh,” Dick moans again, wanting that hand to go lower, letting all of his weight fall back onto M. “I -- can --”

“You want to go to the bedroom?” M asks, still stroking his fingers right over the waistband of Dick’s pants. 

Dick bites his lip and nods, trying to squirm enough to get M to just _touch_ him already. All he’s wearing is sweatpants, it wouldn’t take anything for him to just shove his hand under the waistband and --

“Okay,” M says, stopping his fingers, looking at Apollo over Dick’s shoulder. “One more question, Dick. Do you want Apollo to come with us?”

Dick’s belly tightens at the sound of those words and his eyes fly open and he sees Apollo’s staring back at him, his bottom lip tugged between his teeth.

“I don’t --” he starts to say, but Dick just nods. 

He’s not sure why. He’s not sure if it’s okay or if it makes sense or what he’s _doing_ , he just knows that he wants this. Right now, at this moment, it feels right. God, it’s felt right ever since he _met_ Apollo. 

“Yeah,” he says. “I want you to.”

“Oh,” Apollo says like he wasn’t expecting that at all. “Um. M?”

“Come on,” is all M says, standing up and dragging Dick with him. “You know where it is.”

 

: : : 

 

Dick’s actually surprised that M’s bed is big enough for the three of them, but somehow they all fit. Dick pushes Apollo onto his back and crawls on top of him and M just sorts of lounges against the headboard and watches them, steals Dick away every couple of seconds to kiss his mouth raw, leave it sore and bruised when he goes back to Apollo’s soft, but hungry kisses. 

Where kissing M feels a little bit like being consumed, kissing Apollo makes Dick feels like he’d melt into him if M wasn’t there to keep him anchored. He’s had threesomes before, but they were never like this. Obviously they were with girls so that’s a glaringly huge difference, but they never felt as equal as this. Every threesome he’s ever been in was one sided in some way or someone ended up getting jealous or feeling left out and Dick just isn’t getting that this time. 

He sees Apollo watching them when they kiss, sees the fire in M’s eyes when he pulls Dick away from Apollo --

“I want,” Dick says before M pulls back this time, touches his mouth then looks at Apollo. “Do you want to kiss him?”

“Dick,” M says. “We don’t have to. We can just --”

“Maybe,” Dick says, licking his lips, still looking down at Apollo. “Maybe I want you to.”

“Jesus,” M breathes out. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Dick decides with a kind of confidence he doesn’t usually have. “I’m sure.”

“Well,” M says when Dick climbs off of Apollo and kneels next to them, stroking Apollo’s cheek when he kneels in front of him on the bed. “You sure _you_ want to do this?”

Apollo doesn’t say anything though, he just presses his forehead against M’s and closes and his eyes and M kisses him. It looks different than the way he kisses Dick, more practiced, like he isn’t still learning the contours of his mouth or what makes him gasp and moan, because he already knows. 

“Oh my god,” Dick murmurs next to them and when they break apart he doesn’t know who to reach for first. Luckily, M makes the decision for him. He pulls Dick to him first, kisses him hard and hungry before pulling away and guiding Dick back to Apollo, running his hands down Dick’s back as he watches them kiss and tells them how fucking gorgeous they are. 

“ _M,_ ” Dick whines when M drags his hand down Dick’s stomach again and digs his fingers into Apollo’s shoulder. 

“Shh,” M says next to his ear and pushes his hand down into Dick’s sweats, biting the back of his neck when he gets his hand around him. “God, Dick. You’re so _wet_.”

“Jesus,” Apollo murmurs, eyes wide and blown as he watches M’s hand work inside Dick’s sweats. “M, can I --”

“He wants to taste you,” M whispers in Dick’s ear.

“Oh _god_ ,” Dick gasps out, cock twitching in M’s hand and spilling even more precome onto his fingers. He feels like he’s going to die as he watches M push his fingers into Apollo’s mouth, sees Apollo’s eyelids flutter as he licks and sucks the taste of Dick off of them. 

“Dick,” Apollo says, putting his hands on Dick’s hips, hooking his thumbs into his sweats. “Can I?”

Dick just _stares_ at him for a minute because does he really have to answer that? But finally he says _godplease_ and M chuckles against the back of his neck as Apollo pulls his sweats down. M takes his hand away so Apollo can put his own there, then Apollo bends down and takes Dick into his mouth and Dick moans so loud he’d be embarrassed if it didn’t feel _so good._

“He’s got a pretty amazing mouth, doesn’t he,” M says next to his ear, sliding his hands up and down Dick’s hips. “You both do. It’s fucking ridiculous.”

“God,” Dick pants, one hand reaching back for M, the other lightly resting on top of Apollo’s head. He knows he’s breathing way too hard already, but he feels like he’s been worked up for _weeks_ and Apollo’s mouth feels so fucking _good_ and --

“Christ, A,” M says, smirking against the back of Dick’s neck. “Go easy on the boy, would you?”

Apollo looks up at them at that, his mouth slick and filthy and stretched around Dick and when he winks at Dick -- or at M -- or at both of them, Dick nearly comes undone. 

“I mean,” M says, dragging a finger down the cleft of Dick’s ass, then slowly teasing his hole with it. “I’m not done playing yet.”

“ _Fuck,_ ” Dick cries out, his body jolting forward when M’s finger pushes into him and that’s all it takes. He chokes Apollo a little he comes so hard, so suddenly, but he doesn’t seem to mind very much, just pulls off to cough a little, then goes right back to sucking him off, he and M both doing their best to milk every last drop out of him. 

Dick’s so wrung out when they’re through with him that he can’t even speak, just flops down in the middle of the bed and lays there, staring up at the ceiling like it holds the mysteries of the universe. He’s vaguely aware of Apollo crawling over him, of turning his head and watching them kiss, of M shoving Apollo’s pants down and letting Apollo pulls his off, of the two of them rubbing off against each other and kissing sloppily until Apollo gasps and M groans and Dick comes out of his orgasmic haze just in time to see their faces when they come. 

“Wow,” Dick says when Apollo rolls off of M and disappears into the bathroom. “That...just happened.”

M snorts and grabs the washcloth Apollo hands him, does a quick clean up job then rolls onto his side and wraps around Dick, pressing his lips to his shoulder. “Freak out later. Sleep now.”

“I think I’ll just,” Apollo starts and M lets out a little frustrated grunt. “Get in the damn bed, Apollo.”

Dick grins when he feels the other side of the bed dip and M curls up to him even closer to make room for Apollo. Sleep now, definitely. But why would he freak out about something that feels so awesome? 

 

: : :

 

Dick wakes up , according to the alarm clock on M’s side of the bed, a quarter after three. His head’s kind of beer-fuzzy and sleep-fuzzy and when he tries to get out of bed to pee he can’t and he can’t figure out why until he suddenly remembers _right, there’s another dude in this bed._

He doesn’t panic. 

He doesn’t. 

He just tries to get out of bed. And he can’t because M’s arms are all tangled around him and somehow, even though he started out on the edge, he managed to wind up in the middle and Apollo’s on the other side of him and he’s like this big, huge _rock_ that won’t fucking budge and the sheets are trying to strangle him, swear to god and --

“Dick,” M’s voice comes from behind him, kind of sleep-scratchy and concerned sounding. “Are you --”

“Fine,” Dick says emphatically, standing completely up in the bed and hitting his head on the ceiling fan, which thankfully wasn’t on. “I’m fine. I have to pee. Go back to sleep. I’m fine.”

He shuts the door as soon as he gets into the bathroom, locks it, then crawls into the bathtub and promptly has a panic attack. 

He doesn’t think he’s had a panic attack since he was a kid. Those first few years after his parents died were really rough and then there was that time Jay ran away from their foster home and no one could find him and Dick got so _mad_ at him that he couldn’t stop crying and wouldn’t let him out of his sight for a whole month. He’d forgotten how much they suck. 

When he feels like he can breathe again, Dick climbs out of the bathroom and splashes some water on his face, then grabs his phone off the edge of the tub because he’d brought it in with him and calls the first person he always calls when he’s freaking out. 

“Help,” Dick says as soon as the phone stop ringing. “Oh god, help. I think I --”

“Dick,” someone -- not Jay -- says. “This is Bruce. Jason’s asleep. Is everything alright?”

“Oh,” Dick says, sliding down on the floor against the door. M’s bathroom is cleaner than any bathroom ever. He tries to focus on how freakishly clean the tile is and not how mad he is at Jay for not answering his phone. “Uh. Sorry. I’ll just --”

“Are you okay?” Bruce asks. “You sound...distressed.”

“I,” Dick closes his eyes and bangs his head on the door. “Yes. No. I think I accidentally have two boyfriends.”

Dick can hear Bruce laugh a little because -- well, he’s a jerk. 

“Right,” Dick says. “I’ll just call back when --”

“No,” Bruce says. “This is I have to hear.”

Dick thinks about hanging up on him, but then he’d have to go back out to the bedroom where _two other dudes_ are in the bed he was sleeping in and he’s not sure if he’s ready for that yet, so it’s the lesser of two evils right now. 

“Well,” Dick says. “M -- you know M, right?”

“Mm,” Bruce says. “I’ve met him. I don’t think he likes me very much.”

“That’s just because --” Dick starts and quickly stops. “Anyway, so M has this ex. His name is Apollo and he’s kind of the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen -- Don’t tell M. Or Jay. Oh, christ.”

“Breathe,” Bruce says, so Dick tries to do that, only now it feels like he’s hyperventilating. “So I’m guessing you, M, and Apollo somehow ended up -- what? Sleeping together?”

“Augh,” Dick says incoherently. “He’s been staying here while he looked for a new place. Everyone thought it was a bad idea, but we actually get along really well and M says I’m a lot like Apollo and I really like hearing all of M and Apollo’s old stories and it’s weird, I don’t get jealous or anything and tonight we kind of -- we had a few beers and we just kind of hung out together, all three of us and -- there was kissing. First me and Apollo, then we -- M asked if I wanted Apollo to come with us to the bedroom and I said _yes_ because hello, you know?”

“Okay,” Bruce says. “I’m not entirely sure I’m seeing the problem here, Dick.”

Dick sighs and huffs. “I don’t know!” He whisper-yells. “That’s kind of the problem. I don’t know what I’m doing with any of this! With a dude, with a _relationship_ , with this whole being a grownup who cleans up after himself thing. I definitely can’t handle it times two!”

“How long has Apollo been staying with you and M?” Bruce asks calmly. It’s a little infectious actually, helps Dick to calm down a little and take a few deep breaths 

“I dunno,” Dick says. “A few weeks. A month, maybe?”

“Dick,” Bruce says, a little amusement in his tone. “I think you’ve had two boyfriends for quite a while now.”

“Oh,” Dick says, eyes getting big. “Oh god.”

“Listen,” Bruce says. “I know you’re kind of in a constant state of flux, but this really doesn’t have to be any different than anything else. It’s more common than you think.”

“Why,” Dick says. “Why do I feel like you have personal experience?”

“Dick,” Bruce says, deadpan. “I was in a band.” 

Dick snorts. “Okay,” he says, exhaling. “I think. I think I can go back now. Uh. Thanks, Bruce. You’re...not so bad.”

“You’re still an idiot,” Bruce says. “But as many times as you’ve cleaned out my refrigerator, given my son inappropriate advice, and interrupted my sex life, I basically consider you family. You can call me anytime, Dick.”

“Oh,” Dick says, not knowing what to do with that. “I’m -- gonna go now. Wish me luck.”

Bruce chuckles into the phone and Dick hears a sleepy little _whossat_ right before he hangs up. 

 

: : :

 

After he actually pees because yes, still definitely needs to do that, Dick finally leaves the bathroom and crawls back into bed. His spot is kind of cold now, which sucks, but then M’s hand is on his face and he can feel Apollo’s body heat radiating onto him and suddenly he feels much better than he did. 

“I fucked up, didn’t I?” M asks quietly. “Dick, I’m --”

Dick just shakes his head, wraps his arms around M and kisses him, soft and slow and sweet. “Shh,” he says, laying his head on M’s chest. “You’re gonna wake the giant starfish over there.”

M snorts and presses his lips to Dick’s forehead. “Never stop surprising me.”

“Kay,” Dick says and quickly falls back to sleep.


End file.
